College Football Rankings: The Top 50 by 2012 Team Schedule Posters

If you were to walk around a college campus today, you would see posters everywhere advertising sports programs. The posters are as varied as the players who participate in them.

This slideshow will prove to you that the on-field powerhouses of college football aren't necessarily so powerful off the field. The biggest names in college football market themselves. The best marketing departments tend to live in the lower ranks.

Presented from weakest to strongest, here are 2012's top 50 posters.

UPDATE (9/18/12): Washington emailed us with a high-resolution original, so now the Huskies' poster can be seen in its intended state rather than as a photo of a poster.

UPDATE (9/13/12): Baylor's poster is no longer shown as a leaked version. Major differences are the coach's presence in the center and sponsorship logos.

UPDATE (9/9/12): Ohio State has submitted its official poster, and it has been graded and put in its proper position in the list.

UPDATE (9/6/12): Colorado State has submitted its poster. The Rams had an awesome poster this year, and you may be surprised at the position.

46: Louisville

Louisville put out a great poster this year. The biggest reason that the Cardinals are not higher on the list is because their glove logos look a lot like an Angry Birds promotion. (In reality, it is an angry bird...)

44: Massachusetts

Massachusetts throws down with a clear schedule, a good team shot and a great coach's pose. Though the Minutemen may not finish in the top 50 of FBS football programs, a top-50 finish here is not too shabby.

42: West Virginia

There are microseconds during a quarterback's motion that he looks intimidating and almost invincible. West Virginia did not choose one of those moments for this poster.

On top of that poor decision, they picked a photo with the least-intimidating jersey on him. Overall, this was a good poster, but it seems too easy to fix the issues to place it any higher. (After all, if I can point out the flaws, surely a marketing department should be able to do at least as well as my amateur eyes.)

40: Louisiana-Monroe

These guys have the best schedule layout of all. Calling out the 25th anniversary of their national championship was a great move.

Not only that, but they call out homecoming, senior day, a white-out and a breast cancer awareness game. If you go to a ULM game this year, you already know exactly what to wear just by reading the schedule.

33: Duke

Duke's poster reminds me of baseball cards back in the mid-to-late '90s. It's flashy, but not overbearing. It's almost catchy, like a song on the radio that gets stuck in your head for just the right amount of time.

That being said, it does have a familiar tone to it that won't let me place it any higher.

31: Ohio State

Ohio State's schedule poster does a good job of attracting and keeping a fan's interest. While The Ohio State University missed the opportunity to include Urban Meyer in his first year, let's focus on what the Buckeyes got right.

First, the brightness of the poster seems to overwhelm at first, it implies a bright future for the program. It's so subtle that it almost escapes notice.

The background stripe is simple, but highly effective in communicating tried-and-true tradition to the viewer. Even the simplicity of the stripe reminds you that Jim Tressel couldn't hurt the Buckeyes that much.

After all, he was just a man. The program is so much bigger than one man, and the future at Ohio State is brighter than it has been in quite a few years. This poster says all that to me in one shot.

26: Purdue

Purdue's train may or may not be coming, but this poster almost makes a believer out of the viewer. If the power of the poster could translate to the field immediately, Purdue would be a contender for the Big Ten championship this year.

19: Western Michigan

Western Michigan nailed "simple elegance" with its poster this year. It's laid out well, the colors are muted perfectly and the schedule configuration to form a "W" doesn't even look like it was on purpose.

15: Michigan

Michigan went simple, but effective, with the 2012 edition of the schedule poster.

The schedule adds enough color to attract the eye, but not enough to turn you away immediately.

This is the perfect example of getting things right where Louisiana-Lafayette got them wrong. Toning down the pictures in the background was a stroke of genius. (Plus, the background picture selection was spot-on.)

12: LSU

Font size was the big killer for LSU in this year's contest. "Stand right up and roar" is a great slogan, especially if you've been to a night game in Death Valley.

However, the color needed to be different or the font a little smaller to get inside the top 10. The poster on the whole is a little too brightly colored for the brutality that comes with a game in Baton Rouge.

11: UCLA

This is likely the only top-10 appearance that the Bruins will make in 2012, but it's a heck of an appearance.

This poster just oozes power and strength. This is a motivational poster if ever there were one. The Bruins still have a lot of growing (and recruiting) to do before they're national contenders, but it would certainly help if the marketing department were in charge of team morale.

8: Louisiana Tech

Congratulations to Louisiana Tech for being the only team not to overuse intense color. They managed to have a well-balanced poster without having to mute the uniform colors due to using too many players in the shot.

The power in this poster is a lot like UCLA without borrowing any of the effects from the Bruins at all.

The only bone to pick with this poster is that the doghouse looks like something out of an Amityville flick.

6: Air Force

The reflection of the fighters in the football player beside the players reflected in the pilot's face shield was impressive. Add the core values on the backs of the players in the pilot's shield and you've already got a top-10 poster.

The sky with lightning is another point in the Falcons' favor. The only negative for the Falcons was the unimpressive schedule portion.

Without the schedule, this poster could have won a general-poster competition.

T2: Colorado State Rams

The Rams have an absolutely stunning poster this year. There is so much going on here that it would have been easy to clutter the page.

Due to excellent design, the poster still remains simple and effective. Just so it's not lost on anyone as to how much is going on here, here's a list of everything important that appears on the sheet:

1) Colorado State helmet.

2) Stadium shot from the field. (Reflected in top of helmet.)

3) Shot of head coach and players.

4) Athletic logo.

5) Team schedule.

6) Slogan. (A bold new era.)

Every single aspect of this poster is prominently placed, subtle and in high contrast to its surroundings.

*The tie with Vanderbilt could not be broken. Both posters are almost perfect, and they are so different that it's a matter of taste as to which one you like more.

*All teams that made the original 50 are still here, but pushed down a rank behind CSU's performance.